Tent Hub Assembly

ABSTRACT

A tent hub assembly has a hub, a base, and a biasing member. The hub has a central member in a central aperture and a plurality of arms pivotally connected to tent poles. The base has a shaft and a plurality of walls, with the central member slidably disposed in the shaft. Each wall has an elongated guide slot for receiving a pin which passes through a second hole of a respective pole in the pole slot. The biasing member is disposed in the shaft to bias the central member upward to bias the hub upward from the base. With the poles in an open configuration, the pins are in a locking position in the elongated slot; and, when the poles are moved to a closed configuration, the pins are moved from the locking position to an unlocked position in the elongated slot.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims foreign priority to China Application No.2013207091816, filed on Nov. 11, 2013, which is incorporated byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a tent hub assembly, and in particularto a hub assembly which facilitates folding and unfolding of a tent.

2. Description of Prior Art

Foldable tents are well known in the art and have become very popular inrecent years. In fact, every major retail outlet in the U.S. sells afoldable tent in one form or another. Foldable tents come in differentconfigurations with a variety of features and manufacturers continue toimprove those features. However, in general, a foldable tent comprises atent fabric coupled to a frame assembly at a radially inner space of theframe assembly.

One of the most important parts of the foldable tent is the hubassembly. The hub assembly serves as the backbone of the tent andfacilitates the opening and folding of the tent while also maintainingthe tent in those positions. In the earlier developed foldable tents thehub assembly included an external locking mechanism to ensure that thetent is maintained in the open state. However, external lockingmechanisms are problematic for a number of reasons such as added bulkand weight, the tendency to malfunction due to the number of interactingcomponents, and the extra time it takes to open and fold the tent.Therefore, more recently a hub assembly that does not require anexternal locking mechanism was developed.

In a more recently developed hub assembly the tent poles are pivotallycoupled to the hub assembly and supported by an engaging surface whenthe tent is in the open configuration, as shown and described, forexample, in U.S. Pat. No. 8,448,656. When folded, the poles are pivotedupward relative to the hub assembly and the hub assembly is placed ontop of the tent fabric and folded into a compact bundle, and storedwithin a carry bag. Even though the more recently developed hub assemblyis more advantageous than the previous hub assembly having an externallocking mechanism, there are several problems associated with such aconfiguration.

In the open state, in the foldable tent of the prior art described inthe previous paragraph the radially inward tension from the tent fabricprevents the tent from collapsing. The upper poles of the tent aresecured only by way of contact with the engaging surface. Therefore,when the inward tension from the tent fabric is weakened or when theupper tent poles do not fully engage the engaging surface, for exampleby strong wind exerted on the tent or by human contact, the tent issusceptible to collapsing because an additional safeguard formaintaining the tent in the open state is not present.

Another disadvantage of the foldable tent of the prior art describedabove is that the tent fabric is susceptible to damage when folded. Thisis because the poles are folded upward relative to the hub assembly andthus the hub assembly rests directly on top of the tent fabric when thetent it folded. The friction caused between the hub assembly and thetent fabric could damage the tent fabric. The damage could be as severeas the tent fabric being torn, punctured or ripped especially when thefolded tent is dropped on the end where the hub assembly is located.

Another disadvantage in the foldable tent of the prior art is that thetent fabric could be damaged during the set up process. For the tent ofthe prior art, the tent must first be unfolded such that the floor ofthe tent is completely expanded with the poles resting on top. The useris then required to reach within the boundaries of the floor to furtherunfold and extend the poles. It is difficult to engage the poles withoutstepping on the tent fabric especially in larger instant tents of theprior art. Therefore, the tent fabric is further susceptible to damage.

Other hub assemblies have been developed to overcome the disadvantagesof the hub assembly of U.S. Pat. No. 8,448,656. For example, the hubassemblies of U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,861,736; 8,047,218; and 7,607,447disclose hub assemblies where the poles fold downward and that do nothave external locking mechanisms. However, those hub assemblies arequite bulky due to the requirement of a lengthy biasing mechanism andare costly to manufacture because they require much more material—bothplastic and metal.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The following presents a simplified summary of some embodiments of theinvention in order to provide a basic understanding of the invention.This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is notintended to identify key/critical elements of the invention or todelineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to presentsome embodiments of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude tothe more detailed description that is presented later.

The present invention is intended to overcome at least theabove-described disadvantages. More specifically, the objects andadvantages of the present invention are to provide a foldable instanttent that: includes a safeguard, in addition to tension forces from thetent fabric, against unwanted collapse of the tent while in an openstate; has the capability of the upper tent poles to fold downward tominimize contact between the hub assembly and tent fabric when in thefolded state, and provides the user with easy set up while eliminatingthe need for the user to make contact with the tent fabric with his feetduring set up; and is more cost effective to manufacture.

Facilitating the above-mentioned objectives, in a first embodiment, thehub assembly for a tent having a plurality of poles includes a hubhaving a central member in a central aperture and a plurality of arms,each arm having a fastener aperture for receiving a fastener whichpivotably connects a first hole of a respective pole to the arm; a basehaving a shaft and a plurality of walls, with the central memberslidably disposed in the shaft, with pairs of the walls forming poleslots each for receiving a respective pole, each wall having anelongated guide slot for receiving a pin which passes through a secondhole of a respective pole in the pole slot; and a biasing memberdisposed in the shaft to bias the central member upward to bias the hubupward from the base.

With the poles in an open configuration, the pins are in a lockingposition in the elongated slot; and when the poles are moved to a closedconfiguration, the pins are moved from the locking position to anunlocked position in the elongated slot. With the poles in the openconfiguration, the hub abuts the base. When the poles are moved to theclosed configuration, the hub is moved upward from the base.

The central member is slidable between an open position where thebiasing member is compressed and a closed position where the biasingmember is more compressed. A force from the biasing member in its morecompressed state pushes the central member upward relative to the shaft,thereby driving the hub arms and the poles to the closed position. Thebiasing member is a spring, and the elongated guide slot has anon-linear shape.

In a second embodiment, the hub assembly includes a hub having a centralmember in a central aperture and a plurality of arms, each arm having apivotal connection with a first portion of a respective pole; a basehaving a shaft and a plurality of walls, with the central memberslidably disposed in the shaft, with the walls including a guide slothaving a pivotal connection with a second portion of a respective pole;and a biasing member disposed in the shaft to bias the central memberupward to bias the hub upward from the base.

The guide slot has a non-linear shape. With the poles in an openconfiguration, the pivotal connection of the second portion of the poleis in a locking position in a curved portion in the non-linear guideslot; and when the poles are moved to a closed configuration, thepivotal connection of the second portion moves from the locking positionto an unlocked position in an elongated portion in the non-linear guideslot.

The present invention also includes a tent having such poles connectedto the hub assembly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description ofpresently preferred embodiments of the invention, will be betterunderstood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For thepurpose of illustrating the invention, there are shown in the drawingsembodiments which are presently preferred. It should be understood,however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangementsand instrumentalities shown.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top side perspective view of the hub assembly in the openconfiguration;

FIG. 2 is the top side perspective view of FIG. 1 with parts separated;

FIG. 3 is a front cross-sectional view of the hub assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a top side perspective view of the hub assembly in a partiallyclosed configuration;

FIG. 5 is a side cross-sectional view of the hub assembly of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a top side perspective view of the hub assembly in the closedconfiguration;

FIG. 7 is a front cross-sectional view of the hub assembly of FIG. 6;and

FIG. 8 is a top side perspective view of a tent with poles connected tothe hub assembly of FIG. 1.

To facilitate an understanding of the invention, identical referencenumerals have been used, when appropriate, to designate the same orsimilar elements that are common to the figures. Further, unless statedotherwise, the features shown in the figures are not drawn to scale, butare shown for illustrative purposes only.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Certain terminology is used in the following description for convenienceonly and is not limiting. The article “a” is intended to include one ormore items, and where only one item is intended the term “one” orsimilar language is used. Additionally, to assist in the description ofthe present invention, words such as top, bottom, upper, lower, front,rear, inner, outer, right and left are used to describe the accompanyingfigures. The terminology includes the words above specificallymentioned, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import.

Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 8, the hub assembly 1 is connected to theends of a plurality of poles 40 of a tent, as shown in FIG. 8, whichhave the tent fabric attached to the poles 40. As shown in FIGS. 1-2,the hub assembly 1 has a body or hub 10 with a plurality of hub arms 12radially extending from a central portion having a central aperture 11.Each hub arm 12 has a fastener aperture 15 which receives a fastener 16that passes through a first hole 41 in the end of each pole 40 at afirst portion. The fastener 16 pivotally connects the first hole 41 to apair of hub arms 12 of the hub 10, such that the pole 40 pivots in arespective pair of hub arms 12. In this embodiment, the hub assembly 1includes four poles 40 but more poles could be included with additionalhub arms 12 as well.

The hub assembly 1 also has a base 20 with pairs of walls 25 radiallyextending from a central portion with a shaft 24. Each pair of walls 25forms a pole slot for receiving an intermediate or second portion ofeach pole 40. The intermediate portions have a second hole 42 througheach pole 40, as shown in FIG. 2. In this embodiment, the shaft 24 iscylindrical but one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that thehub assembly 1 could be configured such that the shaft 24 has othershapes and sizes such as, for example, having a square cross-section.

Each wall 25 of the base 20 has an elongated guide slot 21 which receivepins 50 that pass through the second holes 42, such that the elongatedguide slot 21 of each pair of walls 25 is pivotally connected to thesecond holes 42. Accordingly, the intermediate portions of the poles 40at the second holes 42 are slidably and pivotally connected to theelongated guide slot 21 of each pair of walls 25.

As shown in FIGS. 1-2 and 7, the elongated guide slot 21 is non-linear,having a linear portion 22 and a curved portion 23 which provides anon-linear path of slidable movement of the pins 50 in the elongatedguide slot 21.

Referring to FIGS. 2-3, the central aperture 11 and the shaft 24 receivea central member such as a bolt 13 which extends through a biasingmember such as a spring 30, which is disposed in an interior 26 of theshaft 24. The biasing member could also take on other forms such as adouble spring or a pneumatic actuator. A top portion of the shaft 24 issubstantially enclosed other than an aperture for which the bolt 13extends. The lower end of the bolt 13 engages a washer 14 and a nut 17.The diameter of the washer 14 is substantially equal to the innerdiameter of the shaft 24. In the open configuration, the hub body mayabut the base 20, while the spring 30 biases the hub body of the hubassembly 10 upward and away from the base 20. The shaft 24 may also havean opening 27 for attaching a top portion of the tent fabric or toattach other accessories.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the poles 40 are in an open configuration,with the pins 50 in the curved portion 23 of the elongated guide slot21. When the pins 50 are in the curved portion 23, the pins 40 are in alocked position at the upper end of the elongated guide slot 21, suchthat the poles 40 are maintained in the open configuration without theneed for additional fasteners. In addition, the spring 30 in theinterior 26 of the shaft 24 is partially compressed.

When a user desires to fold the tent, the user moves the poles 40 fromthe open configuration in FIGS. 1 and 3 to an intermediate configurationshown in FIGS. 4-5 and then to a closed configuration shown in FIGS.6-7.

Referring to FIGS. 4-5, to fold the tent, the user moves the poles 40 tothe intermediate configuration by moving the poles 40 downward, andtherefore providing a downward moment about the pivot of each fastener16 which is fixed to the hub arms 12. The downward moment removes theslidable pivoting pins 50 out of the curved portion 23 of the elongatedguide slot 21, as shown in FIG. 4, allowing the pins 50 to enter thelinear portion 22 of the elongated guide slot 21. In addition, as shownin FIG. 5, the downward moment applies a force which moves the hub 10upward from the base 20 and further compresses the spring 30 in theshaft 24.

The user then moves the poles 40 to the closed configuration, shown inFIGS. 6-7, by further moving the poles 40 toward the base 20 whichprovides a downward moment or torque about the pivot of each fastener16, allowing the pins 50 to slide downward along the linear portion 22of the elongated guide slot 21. Such a downward moment further applies aforce which moves the hub 10 further upward from the base 20 and furthercompresses the spring 30 in the shaft 24, as shown in FIG. 7. Thecompression of the spring 30 provides a force which maintains the poles40 in the closed configuration without the need for additionalfasteners.

To open the tent, the user moves the poles 40 upward from the closedconfiguration in FIGS. 6-7 through the intermediate configuration inFIGS. 4-5 and then to the open configuration in FIGS. 1 and 3. By movingthe poles 40 accordingly, the user provides an upward moment or torqueon the poles 40 about the fastener 16 to overcome the force of thecompressed spring 30, and then to move the pins 50 into the curvedportion 23 of the elongated guide slot 21. Thus, the upward momentprovided by the opening movement of the poles 40 slides the pins 50upward along the linear portion of the elongated guide slot 22 to thelocking position in the curved portion 23.

Therefore, in the open configuration in FIGS. 1 and 3, the spring 30 isextended and the pins 50 are locked in the curved portion 23 so that thepins 50 cannot release from the curved portion 23 unless the userprovides sufficient downward force to move the poles 40.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from its spirit or essential characteristics. The describedembodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrativeand not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicatedby the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. Allchanges which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are to be embraced within their scope.

1. A hub assembly for a tent having a plurality of poles, the hubassembly comprising: a hub having a central member in a central apertureand a plurality of arms, each arm having a fastener aperture forreceiving a fastener which pivotably connects a first hole of arespective pole to the arm; a base having a shaft and a plurality ofwalls, with the central member slidably disposed in the shaft, withpairs of the walls forming pole slots each for receiving a respectivepole, each wall having an elongated guide slot for receiving a pin whichpasses through a second hole of a respective pole in the pole slot; abiasing member disposed in the shaft to bias the central member upwardto bias the hub upward from the base; wherein, with the poles in an openconfiguration, the pins are in a locking position in the elongated slot;and wherein, when the poles are moved to a closed configuration, thepins are moved from the locking position to an unlocked position in theelongated slot.
 2. The hub assembly of claim 1, wherein with the polesin the open configuration, the hub abuts the base.
 3. The hub assemblyof claim 1, wherein when the poles are moved to the closedconfiguration, the hub is moved upward from the base.
 4. The hubassembly of claim 1, wherein the central member is slidable between anopen position where the biasing member is compressed and a closedposition where the biasing member is more compressed.
 5. The hubassembly of claim 4, wherein a force from the biasing member in its morecompressed state pushes the central member upward relative to the shaft,thereby driving the hub arms and the poles to the closed position. 6.The hub assembly of claim 1, wherein the biasing member is a spring. 7.The hub assembly of claim 1, wherein the elongated guide slot has anon-linear shape.
 8. A hub assembly for a tent having a plurality ofpoles, the hub assembly comprising: a hub having a central member in acentral aperture and a plurality of arms, each arm having a pivotalconnection with a first portion of a respective pole; a base having ashaft and a plurality of walls, with the central member slidablydisposed in the shaft, with the walls including a guide slot having apivotal connection with a second portion of a respective pole; and abiasing member disposed in the shaft to bias the central member upwardto bias the hub upward from the base.
 9. The hub assembly of claim 8,wherein the guide slot has a non-linear shape.
 10. The hub assembly ofclaim 9, wherein, with the poles in an open configuration, the pivotalconnection of the second portion of the pole is in a locking position ina curved portion in the non-linear guide slot; and wherein, when thepoles are moved to a closed configuration, the pivotal connection of thesecond portion moves from the locking position to an unlocked positionin an elongated portion in the non-linear guide slot.
 11. The hubassembly of claim 8, wherein the central member is slidable between anopen position where the biasing member is compressed and a closedposition where the biasing member is more compressed.
 12. The hubassembly of claim 11, wherein a force from the biasing member in itsmore compressed state pushes the central member upward relative to theshaft, thereby driving the hub arms and the poles to the closedposition.
 13. The hub assembly of claim 8, wherein the biasing member isa spring.
 14. A tent comprising: a plurality of poles; a hub having acentral member in a central aperture and a plurality of arms, each armhaving a fastener aperture for receiving a fastener which pivotablyconnects a first hole of a respective pole to the arm; a base having ashaft and a plurality of walls, with the central member slidablydisposed in the shaft, with pairs of the walls forming pole slots eachfor receiving a respective pole, each wall having an elongated guideslot for receiving a pin which passes through a second hole of arespective pole in the pole slot; a biasing member disposed in the shaftto bias the central member upward to bias the hub upward from the base;wherein, with the poles in an open configuration, the pins are in alocking position in the elongated guide slot; and wherein, when thepoles are moved to a closed configuration, the pins are moved from thelocking position to an unlocked position in the elongated guide slot.15. The tent of claim 14, wherein with the poles in the openconfiguration, the hub abuts the base.
 16. The tent of claim 14, whereinwhen the poles are moved to the closed configuration, the hub is movedupward from the base.
 17. The tent of claim 14, wherein the centralmember is slidable between an open position where the biasing member iscompressed and a closed position where the biasing member is morecompressed.
 18. The tent of claim 17, wherein a force from the biasingmember in its more compressed state pushes the central member upwardrelative to the shaft, thereby driving the hub arms and the poles to theclosed position.
 19. The tent of claim 14, wherein the biasing member isa spring.
 20. The tent of claim 14, wherein the elongated guide slot hasa non-linear shape.